Free Public Transit: Connecting People with Jobs

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Connecting People with Jobs

Autosprawl is subsidized by the whole of society, but most of the profit goes to the auto, fossil-fuel, and homebuilding industries. Many small business are hurt because their workers cannot afford a car to get to the job.
In central Texas, this problem has been recognized. The solution? Free public transit for poor workers. We hope they will see the benefits and remove fares entirely.

COLEMAN — The Central Texas Rural Transit District, or City and Rural Rides (CARR), has received a grant that will provide free public transportation for select Brown County residents.
“We were awarded a Job Access Reverse Commute program grant, which is funded by the Texas Department of Transportation,” said Adel Hunter, support service manager for CARR. “The grant is designed to help low-income workers and individuals to get to and from work, as well as dropping off any children at day care, prior to going to work or training. Brownwood Bulletin

Free is Cheaper

How is free transit cheaper? Don't you have to make up for lost fare revenue? The answer is that your city will save so much money in other areas, and quality of life will improve so much that you will get back much more than the lost fares. Some examples are listed below. If you want to see specific numbers, see our spreadsheet here.

Increased return on investment. Public transit involves large fixed costs. When fares are gone, there are more riders per vehicle, getting more value from the investment.
Reduced parking costs. With free transit, fewer people will park downtown. City parking authorities can cost $180 million a year, paid by fines, which are just a tax on customers and delivery services.

Reduced traffic congestion. Studies have shown that the time lost in traffic costs urban economies hundreds of millions of dollars.
Less money exported for gasoline. A medium sized city can export 1 million dollars a day in gasoline money for cars. Free buses will reduce this considerably.
Better quality of life, priceless. In Hasselt, Belgium, when fares were removed, people in hospital started receiving more visitors.